News

2005-06-03 16:50:26.0

Cleveland Man Claims $2.1 Million Lotto Prize

A semi-retired Cleveland man, who was inspired to play the Missouri Lottery by Johnnie Magerl - the Lottery’s first millionaire, is now a millionaire himself. Glenn Hunt Jr., 61, said Magerl was "as nice as he could be" and that he is the one who inspired him to start playing Missouri Lotto more than nine years ago. On May 21, one of Hunt’s four Quick Picked Lotto combinations matched all six numbers drawn to win the $2.1 million jackpot. The winning numbers were: 10, 14, 24, 32, 35 and 39.

"We’ll just keep living life the way it is," said Hunt, who is part-owner of Hunt Electric in Kansas City. "Marriage keeps getting better. We can enjoy our time together. My wife is my best buddy."

Hunt said he and his wife, Vicki, plan to use some of their prize money to pay for their three grandchildren’s college educations.

Hunt also plans to buy Vicki a new car, and he will take her old car with 160,000 miles on it.

Hunt discovered he’d won the jackpot after having coffee with some friends and hearing that Freeman Country Market in Freeman had sold the winning ticket. He said they assumed the winner was someone traveling through town.

But it wasn’t until Friday morning that Hunt stopped in Freeman’s to check his tickets. He found out that the last play - the fourth one - on his ticket was the winner.

"I told my wife if I had the winning ticket, I would take her to lunch," he said. "So I called her up (at work) and said I was taking her to lunch. She didn’t believe me.